Sorry, I am not understanding. I have three fields in my table - subdivision, county, and state. I want to match those three fields to a item in the array that is the datasource for my drop down. I can add a column to the array that has all the valid subdivision+county+state, but I do not know how to code the controlsource of the combo so that when the form is displayed, the combo is showing the correct subdivision, country, and state for the current record in the table.


>yes, the controlsource should be something like a table field, or a thisform.
>But if you just want to return that boundcolumn value to the calling form or something, you need to set the value of the combo (i.e. combo1.value) to (for me) a form property and in the Unload method, return the value of that property:
>

>LOCAL lcreturn
>lcreturn = thisform.cpicked
>RETURN lcreturn
>

>HTH
>Beth
>>Thanks. I did not see the Bound Column. Now I am having trouble putting m.subdivsn+m.county+m.state as my countrol source. it wants a variable.
>>
>>>Hi Brenda,
>>>
>>>No, the bound column does not have to be the first one. Just set it to 4 in this case and it should work fine.
>>>
>>>>I have a combo that has four columns: subdivision, county, state, Upper(subdivision+county+state). The first three columns show in the drop down, the fourth column is just used to sort the array in what the client's consider "correct sort order". My problem is that I need to bind to m.subdivision+m.county+m.state, but I do not want to show that column in the drop down. Does the bound to column always have to be the first? If not, how do i specify which column to bind to? If so, how do I not show the first column in the drop down.
>>>>
>>>>thanks
>>>>
>>>>Brenda